


Rhodonite Backstory

by ARS2SWIM



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24091273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARS2SWIM/pseuds/ARS2SWIM
Summary: I wrote this as a backstory to one of my role-play characters, Rhodonite. I used her in the Jade City discord server, though I have since left it. This story also serves as a cautionary tale to one of my biggest pet peeves in role-play, and writing in general - rushed romance. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Kudos: 3





	Rhodonite Backstory

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after Arc 3 of WoF, in a revamped Jade Mountain setting known as Jade City, a city that surrounds Jade City Academy. However, no prior knowledge of any WoF arcs is required to enjoy this story.

“Only four more months until you get to attend Jade City Academy, Rhodonite.”

Rhodonite lifted her head from the blue couch she was laying on, smiling with anticipation. “Already, mom?!” she exclaimed, her voice brimming with excitement. 

As her mother nodded, Rhodonite gasped. “Awesome! I’ll get to meet a bunch of new friends and maybe even get a boyfriend!”

Shaking her head, her mother reminded her: “Remember: learning first, socializing second. I don’t want you flunking your first year because your head was too thick with drama.” She rubbed a plate with a sponge rather vigorously, the dish gleaming.

“Yeah, I know…” Rhodonite replied good-naturedly, flopping back on the couch and staring up into the ceiling.

Rhodonite had been living in Jade City with her mother, Spinel, for as long as she could remember. The two SkyWings lived in a rather humble home made from materials reminiscent of the palaces of the Sky Kingdom, where Spinel used to live. Glittering gemstones dotted the exterior, and some gold was used in the exterior, though the majority of the house was formed from a mountain-like rock.

As someone who hadn’t gone to school before, Rhodonite didn’t have many friends. She’d either spend most of her time by herself or with her best friend Quail, a patient dragon who shared Rhodonite’s tribe, which all in all wasn’t such a bad way to live. She enjoyed drawing, even if she didn’t feel particularly good at it, and her mother’s company was usually nice.

It was only in recent years where Rhodonite had begun pestering her mother about the academy. With Quail getting into a relationship with oh-so perfect Nile, except he was actually a boring SandWing that lacked any interesting traits besides: “But Rhodonite, he’s the sweetest dragon!” Rhodonite didn’t get nearly as much time with her best friend as she used to. If you asked her, it’s a wonder Quail and Nile were able to stay together for an entire two years. They even moved into their own home as they both turned seven years old.

With her stupid boyfriend, of course Quail had no interest in going to the academy. There was nothing in it for her besides boring studies and a bunch of friends that wouldn’t stack up to Nile. All she needed was her perfect dragon to nuzzle her whenever she was feeling all lovey-dovey and hug her (for FOREVER) when she was feeling rather blue. 

It was beginning to get really annoying how many times Quail would show up to Rhodonite’s house lugging a SandWing behind her.

Sometimes Rhodonite fantasized about having her own boyfriend. A better boyfriend, who actually had a real personality and wasn’t such a doof. One who was super cool, and actually handsome, and totally perfect in every way.

And so, she finally took interest in Jade City Academy.

Of course, she did think getting more of an education than what little she was taught by Spinel was important. She wasn’t going to torture herself with classes she didn’t want just to have a bit of social time. But the idea of it all, the  _ experience  _ of a school like the academy was infatuating.

Before long, Spinel noticed her daydreaming, looking slightly amused. She cleared her throat before telling her: “Well, if you just  _ can’t  _ wait… we can visit the school right now.”

Rhodonite jumped off the couch, her heart leaping. “Really, mother? Thank you! Oh my gosh, this is going to be so exciting…!” She began pacing around the room, the offer clearly jolting her with energy.  _ I’m finally going to see the academy! I bet it’ll have super cozy beds and fun teachers and REALLY cool underground hallways!  _ She leaped up on the couch she was laying on and began jumping on it, stomping into the cushions as much as she could before seeing the exasperated look on her mother’s face. Smiling awkwardly, she slowly stopped bouncing, before asking sheepishly: “Um… are we still going to Jade City Acade-”

“Just get out of the house,” Spinel ordered coldly.

The academy was really cool, as Rhodonite had expected. The classes, which she was only able to view from a distance, looked even better than she imagined, and the sleeping caves appeared to be comfier than her own bedroom back home, though her excitement was perhaps clouding her judgement on that one.

Spinel was singing a different tune on the matter. “I really don’t see why you’d like this more than what you have. Your bedroom is arguably much better and cleaner than that.”

“Oh, Mom…” Rhodonite had said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not just about what  _ things _ a sleeping place has. It’s about the  _ experience. _ ”

“Whatever.”

After a couple hours of exploring, Spinel decided to call it a day, even though Rhodonite felt like there was still much more to find in this school. She’d heard rumors about a dedicated Metamorphosis cave for SilkWings, but was unsuccessful in finding it.

Stepping outside the academy, Rhodonite saw the sun already beginning to set. Its warm glow bathed the city in orange fibers of light, while the darkness behind her was starting to crawl through the sky like an infestation.

“I still think these classes are a little unnecessary,” said Spinel. “I wasn’t given an education like this and could still sustain myself just fine.”

“Maybe, but tell me: what is two plus two?” Rhodonite challenged.

“Rhodonite, I’m not thick; it’s obviously twenty two.”

Rhodonite smothered a laugh.

Spinel allowed herself a small chuckle before directing Rhodonite away from the academy. Rhodonite could already feel excitement bubbling up inside her once again at the thought of returning to this place. The things she’d learn, the people she’d mee-

Her attention diverted when she noticed a wiry, handsome SkyWing the color of sunset looking at the academy searchingly. His eyes were a nice hazel color that went well with his scales, and his face seemed…  _ perfectly  _ shaped. Suddenly Rhodonite felt the urge to pull out a mirror and check her own face to see if it would stack up with his. However, before she could, the orange dragon noticed her and called: “Hey, you!”

After searching her mother’s face for approval (indifference worked well enough for her), Rhodonite approached the lean, sunset-colored dragon and felt like holding in her breath.  _ This could finally be my opportunity to show Quail how you’re  _ really  _ supposed to have a relationship! _ The new dragon asked her: “Is this Jade City Academy?” His voice was soft and lulling while still having a layer of adventurism draped over it.

Rhodonite realized she had been staring into his eyes for an awkward amount of time. Snapping out of it, she answered: “Oh - yes! This is the school! I was just inside and like… it was really really cool! The sleeping caves look super comfy and the Prey Center seemed to have  _ endless  _ food! It’s a shame my mom didn’t allow me any, though…” She felt like she heard a sound from him - perhaps a chuckle - but he kept his composure aside from that.

“What kind of mother would deprive their child of food?” he asked wonderingly.

Oh, wow. What was that? Something about the way he looked at the sky and grinned, before residing back to observing Rhodonite’s eyes like they even were comparable to his...

Rhodonite knew already she wanted to be his dragon.

“You know what I mean. And she cooks pretty well, you know!” said Rhodonite, giggling. “So, what brought you here? Are you planning on joining the academy soon?”

The dragon nodded. “Yeah. My parents and I just moved to Jade City. It’s certainly a nice place…” He paused, as if hesitating. “It’s good enough to have someone like you in it,” he said, stepping closer and brushing her wing with his.

“Oop-” Rhodonite started, startled by the gesture. “Uh,  _ thank you!”  _ She laughed nervously as her heart beat like drums.  _ I knew the academy would be the right choice - I’ve already met this super awesome dragon! _

“No problem. I just believe beautiful dragons are worth complimenting,” the handsome dragon said nonchalantly.

Ahah. Rhodonite wasn’t sure her heart was able to handle this.

“Well,” he said, shrugging. “If you’re leaving, guess I’ll see you around? Who knows - maybe we’ll be in the same winglet.”

“W-w-wait!” she cried as he proceeded past her. “I’ll come with you! I don’t mind giving you a tour - I’ve actually got the layout memorized pretty well already! See, when you enter -”

“Rhodonite.” Spinel casted a very impatient look at her. “We need to go. Now.”

Giving this wonderful new dragon her most apologetic expression, Rhodonite began sulking away. As she was about to reach her mother, she heard his voice call out: “Rhodonite, right?”

Rhodonite turned around and nodded; her anguish from having to abandon this awesome dragon leaking all over her expression.

“My name’s Jasper,” he told her. “I’ll definitely try to come see you again someday.”

Even though she could practically  _ feel  _ Spinel’s eyes burning into the back of her head, she called: “Jasper! Where can I find you again?”

Jasper looked like he was having a brain-fart, before he pointed to the ground and mouthed:  _ Here _ with wide eyes.

Rhodonite nodded before proceeding with Spinel, who was rolling her eyes at her. “I know what you’re thinking with that dragon,” she said. “Be careful. You don’t know him at all, and you could be making one of the biggest mistakes of your life.”

“Believe me,” she added. “I’m a living example of that.”

Rhodonite and Spinel managed to reach their house shortly before the sun completely disappeared under the horizon. Spinel resigned to the kitchen, swiftly preparing a meal for Rhodonite, who was waiting on their couch drawing on a slate. She was attempting to recreate what Jasper looked like, but she was having trouble with the angle she was trying. Frustrated, she wiped it clean and decided to just retire to an easier angle.

Usually, with such a lack of excitement in her life, Rhodonite only saw drawing as something to occupy time. However, as she continued drawing, letting her scrambled thoughts dissipate like the chalk on the slate, she felt much more soothed by the pastime than usual.

“Dinner’s ready,” called Spinel. She sat down in one of the kitchen table’s chairs, looking a bit more tired than usual. Rhodonite guessed she wasn’t feeling great about her brief interaction with Jasper.

_ Well, she has nothing to fear,  _ Rhodonite thought fiercely.  _ I’m making the right choice. _

A knock on the door broke the serenity of their meal. Rhodonite started to get up, but Spinel stopped her with a talon gesture, muttering: “I’ll get it.”

Rhodonite was hoping Jasper had figured out where they lived, even though Spinel would probably kick him out immediately. Just seeing his face again would’ve been enough for her.

But instead of orange scales and hazel eyes, what instead greeted her were pinkish scales and blue eyes.

“Oh, hi Quail!” Rhodonite welcomed, hiding her disappointment quite well. “We haven’t hung out in a little while. How have things been?”

“Pretty normal, to be honest,” Quail replied. “There hasn’t been a lot going on, but I’m fine with that. You still planning on going to the academy?” she asked.

“Mhm,” said Rhodonite. “Mom came and visited it with me today. It was super cool; I think you’d like it.”

“If it really is ‘super cool’, maybe I’ll consider going myself…”

“Sooo…” Rhodonite gave Spinel an expectant look, which was returned by an exhausted shake of the head and rubbing of the temples. Turning back to Quail, she apologized, smiling sheepishly: “Sorry there isn’t any dinner left for you! I didn’t think you’d be coming over today!”

“No, you’re fine,” she replied, tracing one of her claws gently against the outline of a chair. “I already ate. I was just thinking… perhaps we could hang out in your room? Like old times?”

Delight began to dance across Rhodonite’s face. “Oh, I’d love to!” Dipping her head to Spinel in gratitude for the meal, she raced upstairs into the small, cozy bedroom she’d been living in for her whole life.  _ Another thing that’ll change once I start going to Jade City Academy,  _ she realized. 

Rhodonite dashed into her room and leapt onto her bed. The warm glow of a lamp cast moody colors onto her wooden dressers and nightstand, while breathing warmth into the color of stone floor below them. Tapestries of the Sky Kingdom took up a lot of her walls, but there were also a few souvenir gems on display.

Sitting up, she edged a little further away from Quail to give her space as she daintily sat down beside her. It was a little strange just hanging out like normal after so many months Quail had spent with Nile. It was definitely refreshing, though.

“Anything you wanna talk about?” Rhodonite queried, breaking the brief silence. “Has something happened between you and Nile?”

“What-- no! We’re as close as we’ve always been. I just thought it would be nice to check in on you alone for once. We haven’t really had time alone like this in a while.” Quail looked slightly hurt that she would suggest she was having an affair with her boyfriend.

_ But then, maybe she’s just in de-Nile! _

_ Haha… ah... _

“ _ I’ve noticed _ ,” Rhodonite commented, letting ice slip through her voice. “I have missed spending time like this.”

Another awkward silence hung heavy through the air, tying their snouts shut, or at least, that’s how it felt to Rhodonite.

_ I think I should tell her about Jasper. I definitely trust her more than Mom. I’m sure she’ll have better advice than ‘ugh, you two  _ just _ met’. _

Rhodonite felt a little nervous talking about this, but her affection towards the handsome SkyWing from earlier was already quite obvious to Spinel, so she just spat it out. “Quail, I need to tell you about something.”

“What is it?” Quail asked, startled by the unusual tone of her voice.

“While I was leaving the academy today, I saw a SkyWing checking out the place. He asked me if this was Jade City Academy, and I told him it was.”

“What’s so important about that?”

“Because  _ after _ that, he began…  _ talking  _ to me. And he was super funny and nice and his face is perfect and he’s so dreamy and QUAIL I THINK I LOVE HIM!”

“Whoa, slow down. Did he even show any intere-”

“He called me beautiful!” Rhodonite looked up, lovestruck. “And he even brushed my wing with his! He’s such an awesome dragon…”

Looking quite skeptical, Quail said: “To be fair Rhodonite, he could’ve just brushed your wing by accident.”

“No. It was  _ definitely  _ purposeful.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I need someone who’s experienced with romance to help me out! I’ve never dated before. What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to figure out what he likes? What if he decides he loses interest in me?”

Quail sighed, rubbing her temples. “This isn’t hard, Rhodonite… just talk to him. Don’t try to be something you’re not, and uh… if he loses interest in you, it’s best you accept that instead of being a creepy, clingy, control-freak dragon.”

Just as Rhodonite was about to say something, Quail stopped her. “Here’s the thing,” she said, her voice smooth like liquid but still firm. “It’s honestly pretty stupid to want to date someone a  _ day  _ after meeting them. I started dating Nile after around six months of knowing him, and we’ve had a very successful relationship. This, though…” She shook her head. “I don’t know how this is going to turn out. It needs more time.”

“Wh- is that it?” asked Rhodonite, feeling severely disappointed.

“I’m serious about this. Dating someone so prematurely is not a good idea.”

Rhodonite made a face, before muttering: “...alright, fine.”

“Thank you, Rhodonite. And you did say he’s going to Jade City Academy as well, right?” When Rhodonite nodded in response, she continued: “Then that’ll be a good opportunity to get to know him. He’ll probably be put in situations that expose his true colors, and it’s only then that you’ll be able to truly decide whether he’s worth dating.”

Rhodonite made an even grumpier face. Sighing, Quail edged closer and put her talon on hers. Looking into her eyes, Rhodonite saw a lot of worry glazed over them. Quail said: “Don’t get me wrong; I’m really happy you found someone you like. I’m just scared you’ll make the same mistake your mother made…”

Rhodonite narrowed her eyes. “If mother didn’t make that ‘mistake’, I never would’ve been  _ hatched _ ,” she said quietly.

“That’s not what I meant-“

“I don’t care!” Rhodonite yelled. “I bet you’re just  _ jealous _ because of how much more interesting my boyfriend’ll be than stupid Nile!” She breathed heavily for a few moments, cooling off. 

“Rhodonite. Don’t.” Quail squeezed her talon. “I’m worried about you, but I need to get home now. Nile has probably wondered where I’ve been.” She hopped off Rhodonite’s bed and walked to the doorway, before turning around and telling her: “Please,  _ please _ think about what I told you.”

“...Okay,” Rhodonite whispered.

Spinel was happy to hear that Rhodonite and Quail were finally going to spend more time with each other the next day. She was good friends with Quail’s parents and said Quail was a dragon worth looking up to. Especially as Rhodonite was nearing adulthood, Spinel would tell her to keep her best friend close in case she needed any help.

Rhodonite was happy that Spinel actually believed she was going to Quail’s house that afternoon.

Waving goodbye to her mother and thanking the moons, she began flying in the direction of Quail’s house. The pattern of stones in the pavement swooped under her, filling her with a feeling of nostalgia. It  _ was _ hard being away from Quail so much.

_ But that doesn’t matter now. Jasper is a wonderful dragon that’ll blow Nile out of the river. _

As soon as Rhodonite was sure Spinel had withdrawn back into their home, she banked into the direction of Jade City Academy. Towering the city of colors was the large mountain that housed the school she dreamed about. Huts of clay, stone, brick, any material available on the continent, as well as fountains and statues, were littered around the central mountain that she flew towards.

Rhodonite bounded through the air, beating her large wings as fast as she could. She didn’t want to waste a single moment looking for Jasper; the more time spent with him, the better.

She swooped down to the entrance of the academy, scattering a bit of dust as she landed. Looking around, she realized that Jasper was nowhere to be found.  _ Oh no… did something happen?  _ Perhaps Jasper had only been joking when she told her that he’d be here. Or perhaps he’d just forgotten. Maybe he was just a bit of a player and was busy hanging out with some other, prettier, nicer dragon.

But all of those doubts washed out of her mind when she heard Jasper’s voice behind her: “Ah, hello! I was wondering if you’d even come today.”

A smile rapidly growing on her face, Rhodonite turned around and found Jasper walking out of some nearby bushes. “I didn’t think  _ you’d _ come!” she chirped. She was finally going to properly meet the dragon of her dreams!

Jasper smiled benevolently and plodded up close to her. “I didn’t get to properly introduce myself yesterday. I’m Jasper, and I come from the Sky Kingdom.” He examined the mountain behind them. “I took a tour around the academy yesterday - I’m excited to go. How about you?”

“Jasper, I couldn’t tell you how excited I am. Believe me, Jade City may be a nice place to live,” - she widened her eyes - “but  _ three moons,  _ has my life been boring!”

Laughing, Jasper said: “You’re pretty funny, y’know!” After taking a moment to regain his posture, he told Rhodonite: “I could show you where I live if you’d like. That way we won’t have to go all the way out here every time we want to hang out.”

Rhodonite looked at the sky thoughtfully before replying: “Maybe later. It’s not exactly like my mother wants you to hang out with me…”

“Oh?”

“She was pretty stingy about waiting until we started school, or something. I honestly can’t remember right now. But it won’t really make a difference whether we’re outside or inside, so long as you stay out of  _ my  _ house.”

“That’s fine.” Jasper cleared his throat. “So! What d'ya wanna do?”

Huh. Now that she thought of it, Rhodonite  _ didn’t  _ exactly know what she wanted to do. She just expected they’d find something fun as soon as they’d find each other. That’s how her hangouts with Quail usually went.

“Umm…” she started, twiddling her thumbs. “Perhaps… we could just go flying? Maybe afterwards we can, like… hike?”  _ Geez, he’s gonna think I’m totally uncool, won’t he? _

“Ah, flying! Simple but infinitely enjoyable!” Jasper pulled Rhodonite in one of his wings, who immediately melted in surprise.  _ Oh wow! Oh wow oh wow oh wow oh wow! _

“We will brave the skies and travel the mountains! And look oh-so splenderific doing so!” He gave a playful artificial boom to his voice, which made Rhodonite giggle. Jasper, who was probably pleased by her reaction, let her go. She wished he hadn’t. She wished they could just stand like that till the end of time.

But flying with him was still a pretty decent alternative.

Jasper let out a much more forced clearing of his throat, asking: “So! We flying or not?”

“Oh! Yes, we’re flying. Sorry I was just - YEEEEEEEEEE,” Rhodonite exclaimed as Jasper thrust himself into the air, pulling her with him. Wind whipped into their faces as they elevated. He swung her up into the air once he’d gotten high enough. Flapping her wings rather frantically, Rhodonite managed to right herself quickly, leaving nothing in front of her eyes but the blue sky and a wonderful, handsome orange dragon.

Smirking, Rhodonite pounded against the wind and barrelled into Jasper, knocking him off balance. “Oof!” he yelled playfully, grabbing hold of her with his talons and letting themselves fall out of the sky. Rhodonite struggled, to which he responded by tickling her. Eventually she began squirming and laughing uncontrollably from it and he had to let her go. Hovering above some trees, they both smiled at each other, joy radiating from them.

The two SkyWings played around in the sky for a little while longer, wrestling and driving more laughter out of Rhodonite than she’d let out in years. It was freeing, really, to finally have someone as nice as you’d always dreamed of.

Jasper  _ was  _ a dream.

Eventually they decided to take a break from all of the flying and tackling and tickling and dive-bombing, and lowered into the forest surrounding Jade City. The sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon, splashing reds and oranges across the greens and browns of the trees. The dirt felt very clammy to Rhodonite, for she was used to hard surfaces, but Jasper didn’t seem bothered by it.

“Isn’t the air nice out here?” he asked, inhaling and breathing out the air with a sigh. “You’ve spent your whole life in Jade City, correct?”

“Mhm, that’s right,” said Rhodonite.

“How does nature feel?” asked Jasper, turning around and spreading out his wings to the plants and wildlife around him.

“It’s… fantastic,” Rhodonite breathed, giving Jasper a dreamy look. She wanted to fall into his arms right about then and envelop herself in his warmth; she bet it was everlasting. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing me here, Jasper. This place is… just so  _ wonderful.  _ The big leaves, all of the little adorable critters, everything…”

“Wait till you see this,” he said, turning back around and trotting through the greenery. As he pushed branches and plan stems past him, little shards of orange sunlight peeked through, briefly giving Rhodonite a pocket of warmth. She could only smile in anticipation… and have her heart beat like a drum.

.As Jasper pushed open the last pair of leaves for Rhodonite to weave through, what lay before her was an open space with a small hill in the center. “Come on!” Jasper said, motioning her to follow as he climbed up. Rhodonite hooked her talons in the ground as she scrambled up; Jasper was already seated on the edge by the time she made it up.

The gorgeous sun enveloped her in its rays, casting an indescribable warmth upon her. Rhodonite closed her eyes and spread her wings to their full length, as to absorb as much of the breathtaking sensation as she could. She breathed very deeply, letting the wonderfully fresh air circulate inside of her. When she was finished, Jasper was up, looking directly into her eyes.

“Jasper, this…” she started. “This is wonderful! I love it!” She felt as if she couldn’t have a bigger, goofier smile than the one she had now, but it didn’t matter to her. What mattered was the dragon in front of her.

“Come sit down with me,” Jasper gently told Rhodonite. She settled down at the edge of the hill, right next to the handsome SkyWing. They spent a few moments in silence, appreciating the beauty of the sun and the warmth it shone upon them

“I need to ask you something, Jasper,” said Rhodonite.

“Hm?”

“Where have you been and why haven’t I spent this kind of time with you until now?” she asked, laughing. She turned her head away from the sunset to beam into Jasper’s eyes, which were sparkling and looked absolutely brilliant against the sun’s rays.

“To be honest… I’m not sure. I wasn’t too keen on leaving my old home, if I’m being honest,” he admitted. “But I’m happy I did. This place is great. And of course,” - Jasper put his arm around Rhodonite - “it has you.”

Rhodonite sighed with happiness and leaned her head against Jasper’s shoulder, which was exactly as warm as she imagined. Jasper tugged her in closer as they continued to watch the sun fall.

Up to this point, Rhodonite would consider it the greatest moment of her entire life.

But that award was quickly redistributed when Jasper abruptly wrapped his other arm around Rhodonite and pulled her into a kiss.

Rhodonite’s eyes widened in surprise, but Jasper responded by closing his and pulling her closer in the kiss. After a few seconds, though, she leaned into it and hugged him tightly. It felt like all of her systems were going haywire, but above all other (mostly unreadable) emotions… she felt happy.

She closed her eyes and savored the moment. Her heart felt as if it were driving out of her chest, but in a good way. Everything about the kiss just felt so… positive. She couldn’t let go of Jasper’s warm, smooth scales. She didn’t want to, either.

Eventually, though, Jasper pulled away from her, his lips slowly retracting from hers. She opened her eyes back up, and so did he.

_ Wow… _

“I…” she began, blushing and blinking. “Are you…?”

Jasper put one talon to her mouth to silence her. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Me too.” They both gazed at each other for a long while. Rhodonite felt a rush of feelings that she couldn’t even put into words. The only thing she could think of was:  _ Love. _

Before they knew it, the sun had completely vanished beneath the horizon. Rhodonite decided to lay down in the grass with Jasper, enjoying the night sky, and before long they were both fast asleep, dozing under the stars. Rhodonite’s heart wouldn’t stop beating so intensely, but she didn’t mind. It was kind of a nice feeling.

_ I knew things would turn out well,  _ Rhodonite thought before consciousness fell away from her.

When Rhodonite opened her eyes, the night sky was all she could see. Cold blades of grass tickled her neck, and brought about confusion to her mind. Why was she laying on dirt rather than a mattress?

She shifted a little and felt warm scales brush up against hers.  _ Oh yeah… that’s why. _

Jasper was still awake, gazing into the stars. Seeing all of the little white dots speckled across his pretty eyes helped Rhodonite remember why she had done what she did that night.

“Hi, Jasper…” Rhodonite said softly.

Jasper’s eyes flicked to her. He gave her a sweet smile, before asking: “Why’d you wake up?”

Spinel. She was going to be furious if she found them two out here. She would probably be mad even if Rhodonite was found hanging around Jasper.

“You know I can’t stay here, right?” she started. “I think my mom hates you. I need to get back home and hopefully find a way to cover this up.”

“How do you know she hates me?” Jasper queried. “We’ve only seen each other once.”

“That’s-- that’s not exactly what I meant. But… you get it, right? Remember when she broke up our conversation the other day?”  
Jasper paused, seemingly thinking. Eventually he admitted: “...Yeah. I don’t think she’ll be happy with us being around each other.”

“So then you’ll understand why I need to go?”

“But here’s the thing - you  _ don’t  _ need to go right now.” Jasper sat up, looking down at her. “We can still be with each other for a little while longer. Don’t you enjoy all of this? The scenery, the night sky, and… me?”

“Jasper, don’t get me wrong,” she whispered. “I love being with you. I love  _ you.  _ But every minute out here is putting  _ us _ on the line.” She sat up to kiss him before finishing. “We’ll never get another night like this if we’re caught.”

“That’s true,” he admitted. “But… is it not a fair assessment to consider that your mother is currently asleep?”

“I… don’t know.” Rhodonite looked up at the three moons. It would soon be midnight, and Spinel’s mother wasn’t usually up late. “But I don’t think it’s worth risking.” She pushed herself from the ground and braced herself to lift off into the air.

“Wait, Rhodonite,” said Jasper with a raised voice. He lowered it back down as he said: “Please… don’t go.”

“I’ll be back, Jasper. You’ll survive without me, right?” She smiled at him, and he managed a rather feeble one before nodding in agreement.

Rhodonite told him: “I’ll see you tomorrow. Meet me at the academy again before the sun is at its highest point.” And with that, she lifted off into the air, blinding beating her large wings into the darkness without the lamp that had brought her so much joy. She already missed him.

When Rhodonite reached her home, she could see through the windows that the lights were still on.  _ Uh oh.  _ Spinel never left the lights on while she was asleep.

She padded up to the door and slowly, gently opened the golden doorknob. The door creaked loudly, to be as unhelpful to her as it could, and light poured out of the house. Spinel was already staring at her.

“Inside.” Spinel said quietly. The tone of her voice sent a shudder through Rhodonite; it was always scarier when her mother spoke with quiet intensity rather than plain yelling. It was going to be difficult to get off the hook for this.

Shutting the door behind her, Rhodonite took a chair from the dining room table and sat down trying to make as little noise as possible. Her heart was racing; she didn’t know if she had ever felt so scared in her life.

Spinel walked up to Rhodonite and glared at her. “Where have you been?!” she hissed.

_ Quick, Rhodonite - what’s the thing you do most that you stay up late for?! _

_ Drawing. _

_ You never draw outside of home. _

_ Shoot… _

“I- I was… really caught up in a game of Scales-And-Squares with Quail and Nile.” She tried to keep as still as possible, but it was rather difficult given the circumstances. She could practically  _ feel  _ Spinel’s hot breath on her. If she didn’t end this quickly, Rhodonite worried Spinel would burn the house down in rage.

“Scales-And-Squares?!” Spinel barked, causing Rhodonite to jump. “That game can be finished in - what - ten minutes?!”

“Now, let me explain…” Rhodonite started, holding up her talons innocently. “We had a competition. A tournament, if you will, held between the three of us. And it was… super fun!” She artificially brightened her expression. “It was so much fun that we held seven of them! It’s a wonder we didn’t go to ten. So… yeah!”

Spinel looked a little unconvinced at first, but eventually muttered: “...Just go to bed, Rhodonite. I don’t have the energy to deal with you tonight.”

Immense relief washed over Rhodonite.  _ Thank the moons!  _ She carefully stepped away from Spinel before darting upstairs into her room, where she leapt into her bed and closed her eyes, bundling her comforters around her.

However, sleep wouldn’t come until much later. For seemingly an eternity, all Rhodonite could think about was Jasper. How he looked. How he joked. How he laughed. How he kissed. How he made her feel deep in her heart.

Also, how much he had protested her leaving. How much he’d begged for her to stay that night.

_ He must love me as much as I love him!  _ she thought giddily, smiling.  _ Maybe more so! _

Eventually her joy mellowed out into guilt, though.  _ I wish we didn’t have to be apart from each other. I… I wish Spinel would just let us be with each other. Without any complications. Without any craziness. Without any sorrow. _

_ Is that what I’m feeling right now? Sorrow? _

_...Perhaps. _

That was the last thing Rhodonite had thought before falling asleep again, this time in the familiar envelope of her home. Without Jasper beside her.

The following day, Rhodonite had escaped the constraints of her home even sooner. Spinel had given her permission to go to Quail’s house, but skepticism was written all over her nod. This did bother Rhodonite, but not enough to ward her off from seeing Jasper again.

Jasper had insisted on going to a certain cafe he liked, even though Rhodonite felt being in the city with him was rather risky. Still, they did go - Jasper bought both of them some coffee and they drank it on a bench outside the cafe.

“How is it?” asked Jasper, putting one of his arms around Rhodonite’s body.

“It’s pretty good!” she replied. “I haven’t had a lot of coffee in my life, but this is nice! Makes me feel…  _ energized _ !” Giggling, she put one of her talons on Jasper’s shoulder and shook it a little. It almost spilled, but he managed to hold it steady with wide eyes. “Eek!”

“Haha!” A smile glued on her face, she sipped her coffee, careful not to laugh and blow hot bubbles in her face.

When they had almost finished their drinks, two familiar dragons walked up to them and gazed at them thoughtfully. Rhodonite looked up from her mug. Peach scales and pale yellow scales.

Quail and Nile.

“Oh, hi Quail! This is Jasper!” She beckoned to him, who smiled and waved sillily. “He’s my boyfriend.”

Quail looked a little dumbfounded. “Huh… I honestly didn’t expect you to start dating him  _ this  _ quickly. But, um… hello, Jasper. Pleased to meet you. I’m Quail.” She held out her talons to shake.

Jasper took a few seconds to finish his sip of coffee before nodding without looking up and telling her: “Mhm, pleased to meet you too.” He shook her talons half-heartedly and put his talon back around Rhodonite, pulling her a in a little tight.

Nile eyed him suspiciously. “My name’s Nile. So… you like Rhodonite?”

Jasper lazily gazed at him and said: “Nah, I’m just hanging out with her because she paid me to.” When Nile’s face scrunched up into confusion, Jasper added: “No, idiot; of course I love her.”

Giving Quail his best  _ THIS IS VERY CONCERNING  _ expression, Nile, echoing Quail’s initial reaction, muttered: “Huh…”

“Jasper, what’s wrong with you?” Rhodonite asked, a little confused herself. “I get they’re a pretty boring couple, but at least don’t stoop so close to  _ Nile’s  _ level.”

Nile looked genuinely hurt, while Quail interjected, pointing her talon at Rhodonite: “I think the better question to ask is: what’s gotten into  _ you,  _ Rhodonite? I get you don’t exactly have the highest opinion of Nile, but at least don’t be a jerk about it! I’ve never seen you say something like that in front of him.”

After a brief period of ponderence, Rhodonite began: “Okay, I’ll admit that was pretty uncalled for-” before Jasper cut her off.

“You don’t need to apologize to them, Rhodonite. You’re allowed to have your own opinion.” He began massaging her back, which felt nice, though it was a tad too vigorous.

“Rhodonite. There is a very clear difference between having an opinion and  _ being a jerk. _ ” She narrowed her eyes at her. “You’re never like this. Is this Jasper’s doing?”

“Jasper has nothing to do with this!” Rhodonite yelled. “It has  _ everything  _ to do with your boyfriend being so horrendous it makes me want to vomit!”

“You take that back right now!” Quail looked more enraged than Rhodonite had ever seen her, and this genuinely scared her. “Having a boyfriend does not give you the right to go from respectful to  _ irritating! _ ”

Despite her fear, Rhodonite stood up and retorted: “Actually, I think it does! Tell me -  _ is  _ there a rule against having an opinion?”

“There isn’t a rule against being an awful dragon, yet you don’t see dragons mouthing off to each other all the time!”

“That’s enough!” Nile stood between the two, who looked as if they were about to explode like the NightWing volcano. Rhodonite sure felt like that was about to happen. “This is such a stupid argument. I don’t care if you hate me or not - don’t let me be a point of contention for you two’s friendship.”

“You kind of are, just by dating Quail,” Jasper pointed out.

“Butt out,” Nile hissed.

“How about no? Any business of Rhodonite’s is mine, and I’m not going to let you two drive us apart!”

Quail looked baffled. “Drive you apart…?” She threw her talons in the air. “You know what? That’s it. Come on, Nile - let’s get out of here.” She bounded into the air, banking in the direction of her house.

Regarding her with concern, Nile told Rhodonite: “Rhodonite… trust is a lot easier to break than it is to obtain. I hope you understand that, because it’s to my understanding that Quail has been your only friend for some time.”

“And it’s to  _ my  _ understanding that sometimes friends change. Mind your own business,  _ Nile, _ ” Rhodonite spat.

Nile shook his head in frustration and flew after Quail.

Once she was sure they had gone, Rhodonite pulled away from Jasper and asked: “Jasper. What. Was. That?!”

“I thought you didn’t like him!”

“I don’t, but… why were you so disrespectful to them?”  
“Are we going to ignore the fight you just started with Quail?”

“It wouldn’t have gotten to that point if you hadn’t badmouthed both of them!”

Jasper paused. “Look… they just don’t seem like safe dragons to be around. I’ve been around plenty of dragons that have come across as fine at first, but then,  _ as it turns out _ , they’re actually awful.”

Rhodonite opened her snout, shut it, then spoke with a bit of hurt in her voice: “Jasper, I’ve known them for way longer than you have? Why would you make that assessment?”

“Because I’ve been through far worse than you,” he assured her. “I know what to look out for.”

Taking a deep breath, Rhodonite said: “...Okay. Just... “ She looked around the city a little anxiously. She hoped no one saw the little quarrel that took place. Even if none of them were her mother, it would still be really embarrassing. “Can we go somewhere else?”

“We could go to my house,” he offered.

“I’m not sure about that…” she started.

“Trust me, you’ll like it. We have a ton of fun games and things of that nature. It’ll be a nice way to spend the day.”

“I… suppose you’re right,” Rhodonite said resignedly. “Lead the way.”

Jasper took her mug from her hands and flew off in the direction opposite from Quail’s house. Rhodonite flapped beside him, brushing her wings against his but not doing much else. It was hard to make any playful gestures after what had just gone down.

Jasper’s home was… a tad questionable.

It was still made of the same rock that Rhodonite’s home was made of, except that’s  _ all  _ its exterior comprised of.  _ Just  _ rock, like some prehistoric cave. 

As he walked to the front door of his house, Jasper turned his head and gave Rhodonite an expectant look. She tried to push away as much skepticism from her face as she could, but a bit of it remained. Jasper’s face fell a little and as he turned back around, a bit of fear seemed to trickle into his expression.  _ What’s that all about?  _ thought Rhodonite.

The two dragons entered the home. Dim light filled the air, and a strange smell came from where the kitchen had been placed. Two adult dragons (who Rhodonite assumed were his parents) snapped their heads in Jasper’s direction, looking quite furious. Perhaps more so than Spinel was the other night, actually.

“Ah, so you’ve got a new girlfriend, I see,” the male dragon observed. “That’s always a convenient way to avoid your responsibilities.”

“Shut it, Dad,” Jasper hissed. “She’s more important than a stupid pile of clothes.”

“You wanna get smart with me? I can come over there right now and -” As Jasper’s father was about to storm right in front of him, his mother grabbed one of his arms and shook her head.

Jasper’s dad turned on his mother. “Wh-why are you telling me to stop?!  _ He’s  _ been avoiding all of his chores for the past two weeks! And  _ then  _ he brings over a stupid  _ girl  _ just so he could procrastinate for longer!”

“Honey, we’ll deal with him when the time comes!” Jasper’s mother shouted.

“That’s what you  _ always  _ say!” his father yelled. “I swear, you know  _ nothing  _ about disciplining a dragonet!”

While Jasper’s parents bickered, Rhodonite whispered: “Can we please go somewhere else?” 

Jasper nodded in agreement.

They stepped into a wall with a polished wooden floor and paintings lining the walls. There was one that depicted a beautiful dragon sitting in a coffin with her talons reduced to bone making a heart symbol. Rhodonite found a lot of them to be quite abstract and creepy, but Jasper seemed unbothered.

Out of curiosity, Rhodonite inquired: “Sooo… where’d you get these paintings?”

“I made them myself.”

Rhodonite blinked. “A-all of them??” A twist of admiration, excitement, and anxiety grew in her chest. It was awesome that he had this much skill under his belt (supposedly). Maybe she could learn a thing or two from him!

But… she couldn’t help but find these products of Jasper’s imagination to be quite unnerving.

When they reached Jasper’s room, what they found was a rather lackluster cave with some painting supplies and a rather small bed. There were no windows, which must feel horrible for a dragon so used to seeing the sky all the time, and only a makeshift nightstand to accompany his bed.

Shouting still echoed from the kitchen. It was rather ominous to find that Jasper’s family was so…  _ toxic.  _ Rhodonite remembered how he treated Quail and Nile back at the cafe.  _ What else has Jasper been hiding from me?  _ she wondered, feeling a little green.

“This,” Jasper said, bowing one of his talons to his room, “is where I paint.”

There was already a painting on an easel across from his bed - it looked as if it was almost finished. It was very detailed and looked professionally done - it depicted a female SkyWing with rose-colored scales and deep blue eyes…

“Wait a second,” said Rhodonite. “Is that a painting of me?”

“Mhm.”

“Geez, how much time do you have?!” Rhodonite asked, amazed, before hugging Jasper. “You’re amazing. I can’t believe you drew all of that in so little time…” She hugged him more firmly.

“I have a lot of time, trust me,” replied Jasper. “And thank you, I appreciate it a lot!” She felt him grip her body quite tightly. It was nice, feeling his warm scales against hers.

“Teach me your ways, Jasper!” said Rhodonite jokingly. “I’m so much worse at making art than you are. I need to knooowwww!” Rhodonite shook Jasper around as she finished, which made him giggle.

For the first time since she’d left the cafe, Rhodonite was able to forget about that obnoxious, jerky side of Jasper. It was quite nice to let go of that.

“I’m not a very great teacher,” Jasper admitted as Rhodonite let him go. “But you can certainly watch me paint for a while.”

“Alrighty!” agreed Rhodonite.

She stood right by his side to witness every brush stroke, every fine detail, as closely as she could, before her legs began to give out from the several minutes of standing, to which she then resigned to sitting on the edge of Jasper’s bed. Unlike the previous dragon-grave-skeleton-heart piece she had seen, the colors in this one were much less subdued; much more saturated and poppy. Her eyes in the painting were especially detailed and beautiful, to the point where Rhodonite began wondering if Jasper was deliberately making her prettier in the painting.

He probably was.

It must have been at least two hours of watching Jasper paint and minor conversations before he was finally finished. The final piece looked absolutely gorgeous. “Come on - I don’t look  _ that _ good!” Rhodonite had joked. “Next time make me uglier!”

“No way. My painting, my rules!” Jasper smirked with mock attitude, which caused Rhodonite to roll over giggling.

They had some light conversations on the edge of his bed before she realized it must have been getting late. “I better go soon,” she told him regretfully. She really didn’t enjoy how she had to try and keep her relationship with him a secret from her mother. It would be so much better if things could go like how they did with Quail and Nile.

_ But then again, Nile’s boring. So maybe it’s good I’m not like him. _

“Wait,” Jasper said, putting a talon on Rhodonite’s shoulder.

“I’m not having a repeat of last night,” she told him.

“You don’t have to. You can sleep with me.” He ushered to the bed they were sitting on. It was a tempting offer. She’d much rather sleep with him than alone.

But as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t. It would put them at too much risk.

“I’m sorry, but… I really don’t think I can.” She began to slide off the side of the bed when Jasper gripped her shoulder tighter.

“You can, Rhodonite. Besides, I’m sure it’s already late enough that you’d still be in trouble if you left now. Why not get a good night’s sleep with the dragon you love before going off to accept that?”

“Because the punishment could get more severe,” Rhodonite replied simply.

Jasper rubbed his temples with his other talon. “Tell me the last time you were caught for something like this.”

“Um… yesterday?”

“How were you punished?”

“I wasn’t.”

“There you go.”

“It’s not that simple-”

A glint shone in Jasper’s eyes as he interrupted. “Well, here’s the thing.  _ I don’t care. _ You should be allowed to date who you want and do what you want. You shouldn’t have to answer to an old coot, for moons’ sake…”

Rhodonite was faced with a choice: disobey Spinel or disobey Jasper. And she wasn’t going to lie, she found the idea of defying Jasper to be surprisingly more difficult than she initially guessed.

Sighing, she gave in. “Fine, I’ll spend the night with you.”

It was surprisingly cozy sleeping with Jasper. His bed was decent temperature and Jasper himself was really warm, as usual.

With that being said, his death grip was something she didn’t know what to think of.

Not too many moments after Rhodonite had climbed in, Jasper had reached his arms around her chest and held her. Really tightly. It was almost uncomfortable, but he hadn’t gotten to the point of squeezing her. Still, it was a little awkward.

As Jasper had pressed himself against her scales, rose against tangerine, his tongue flicking in and out occasionally, Rhodonite had begun to sweat. He was indeed a very warm dragon. She loved the warmth most of the time.

But this time, she felt almost as if she was overheating.

It took about an hour of  _ trying to sleep while Jasper randomly nuzzled her  _ before she finally managed to slip away from consciousness.

Just before she had fallen asleep, Rhodonite had thought back to the ominous painting from the hallway depicting the partly skeletal SkyWing lying in the coffin.

_...What could it mean? _

The waves swished and crashed against the water of the beach Rhodonite and Jasper were lying together in. The sun glimmered in her eyes, forcing her to squint. Jasper had his enormous orange wings around her; they made her feel safe, secure, at peace… home.

It truly was the life.

She closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the sun and Jasper’s scales lull her into drowsiness. When she opened them, he was excitedly pulling her towards the ocean, squeezing her talon as he dashed. She ran along, not feeling much except for a pull to follow him.

When they reached the edge of the beach, Jasper gestured for her to fly up with him. He let Rhodonite’s talon slip out of his as he bounded into the air, scattering sand all over her body. After shaking herself and irritably spitting out the sand that had flown into her mouth, she flapped to where Jasper was hovering.

He gave the same playful smile she had given him when they first truly spent time together. Rhodonite returned it graciously, happy to be reminded of that day. He started towards her, his wingbeats fluidly pushing down the air below. Mimicking him, Rhodonite felt her smile deepen.

Then Jasper tackled her. And not sillily like he had done a few days ago. He tackled her  _ hard _ .

“Ow!” she yelped, taken by total surprise. She struggled, but Jasper kept her in his grip. She could almost see a shadow of a victorious smirk growing on his face, as if he…  _ no. _

Rhodonite needed to get away. She didn’t know what he was planning to do but she did know that she was in  _ a lot of danger. _

“J-jasper!” she cried, feeling fear break up her voice. Confusion gripped her heart and she found her mind was panicking. “Jasper, let me g-!”

Her words were cut off by the endless water surrounding her, clenching her with its cold grasp. She couldn’t breathe. No, even worse - it was like the water was sucking the air out of her. Liquid that felt like razor-sharp crystals wrapped around her eyes.

She yelled. She  _ screamed.  _ She could feel her throat serrating from the intensity of her cries. It was like someone ripped out her vocal chords and clawed them into strips.

Sadly, the power of her voice was no match for the overwhelming water. Her thoughts and her vision and  _ her dragon  _ all fell away into swirls of the deep blue water she was dying in…

Rhodonite’s eyes opened wide with fear as she woke. She tried to inhale, but she couldn’t. She was still choking. She was still slowly dying. She--

\--was inhaling again.

Jasper, still asleep, drew his lips away from Rhodonite’s. He looked quite peaceful, though a speck of agitation seemed to linger across his expression.

_ Could I have  _ died  _ from Jasper kissing me?  _ Rhodonite wondered. She supposed it could’ve been dangerous, though eventually she would have woken up and realized she had nostrils anyways.

Still… that felt  _ awful. _ As her eyes darted around the room, she realized how unsafe she felt. Homesickness rushed through her like a plague. She didn’t want to be here anymore… not anywhere close to that horrible choking sensation.

She noticed that she was sweating. Overheating.

When sleep did finally reach Rhodonite, a few hours had already passed since she woke up from her nightmare. The bedroom had adopted a bit of brightness, though it was still fairly dim.

Jasper was sitting on the side of his bed, staring thoughtfully at the doorway.  _ I wonder when he woke up,  _ thought Rhodonite. The room felt quite still, and Rhodonite still felt a bit of sweat clinging to her.

Then, all at once, realization struck her like a spear. Spinel. She was going to be unbelievably mad. She was probably really worried about Rhodonite… which made her feel a little guilty, but she quickly buried that feeling with her feelings about Jasper.

Then she remembered her dream and realized that wouldn’t work.

_ I need to leave,  _ Rhodonite decided.  _ I need to leave right now. This is getting too risky. I’m not sure if I’d even feel safe around Jasper if I didn’t have to worry about Mom. _

“Jasper…” she mumbled, before clearing her throat and more prominently speaking: “Jasper?”

Jasper turned his head towards her. His eyes still remained empathetic and his face still looked perfectly handsome. Maybe she was stressing over nothing? Perhaps she was safe with him after all.

_ Either way, I need to get back home. _

“Mom is going to be really mad at me for spending the night, since I never do that without telling her. I need to leave right now and…” She chose her words carefully, also thinking about the decision she was making now in general, before telling him: “We should take a break from each other. Otherwise Mom’ll get even more suspicious and may tear down our friendship.”

Jasper looked very annoyed, but surprisingly conceded and said: “Okay. How about meeting at my house in one week?”

“Cool, except I dunno where it is.”

“Jade City Academy it is,” Jasper amended.

This was beginning to become too much. Rhodonite hadn’t realized just how much time Jasper wanted to spend with her. It was nice, don’t get her wrong - she did truly enjoy and appreciate his company most of the time. Yet… she had this almost sickened feeling… that feeling you’d get when you ate too many cows and needed to puke.

_ Oh also Mom. She is going to be thrilled if she finds out about all of this. _

If she told Jasper that she’d rather take a  _ few _ weeks off, it may seem reasonable enough. After all, she feared her mother and has made it quite clear to Jasper that living on the edge of her rules was rather dangerous… so perhaps he would let her take more time off.

Okay. It was already time to actually say that.

Rhodonite hesitated before uttering: “Look, Jasper…” Her start was returned with narrowed, suspicious eyes. Already, she could guess this wouldn’t be an easy task.

“We… need to spend more time away from each other. I’m worried my mom will find us out quite soon if we keep taking this many risks and frankly… I don’t want to lose our relationship.” Rhodonite reached and brushed one of his wings with her own. “You mean a lot to me.  _ We have to be careful.” _

To her surprise, Jasper didn’t say anything at first. She decided to add: “Can we spend at least three weeks away from each other? Just to be safe?”  
“NO!” Jasper snapped, glaring at her. He then looked down - Rhodonite guessed he was realizing how ridiculous he was acting - and sighed. “Honey, why that long?”

That was the first time he’d called her that, Rhodonite noticed.

“It’s just so we aren’t taking too much risk,” Rhodonite explained, feeling a small stab of pity for him. She knew that he loved her very much by now. Having that taken away must feel kind of awful, even if it’s only for a few weeks.

Jasper was silent for about an entire minute. He looked like he was doing more than pondering behind those empathetic eyes, but Rhodonite tried not to think about it too much. But, to her immense gratitude, he eventually said: “Okay, fine. But it’s just three weeks.”

“I know.”

“Good. I don’t want you being away any longer.”

“Who gave you the authority to decide when I can hang out with you?”

Jasper was silent.

Her expression faltering, Rhodonite softly spoke as she padded towards the doorway: “Then I’ll see you then.”

It was hard not to look at Jasper through a different lens now. Rhodonite felt a rush of many emotions as she exited his house (which, by the way, his parents didn’t even say goodbye), namely disappointment that Jasper was like this.

_ Why? _

Spinel looked as if she got zero sleep last night.

When Rhodonite had returned home, her mother only stared at her. There was little emotion on her face, other than pure exhaustion.

“Mom…” she started.

“Rhodonite… tell me when you’re about to have a sleepover next time.” Luckily for Rhodonite, it seemed that her mother wasn’t in the mood for any scolding. Yet she couldn’t help but feel pity for her worn out mother; she wouldn’t have been surprised if she flew all over Jade City last night in search of her.

“Sorry, Mom…” Rhodonite said guiltily. “There’s just been a lot of things I’ve had to talk to Quail about.”

“Quail?” said Spinel with a confused tone.  _ Oh no,  _ thought Rhodonite.  _ Did she really fly all over Jade City? _

_ If so, does that mean she went to Quail’s house and… _

Narrowing her eyes, Spinel said: “Quail… but you weren’t at her house…?” Slowly, as realization set in, her eyes widened. “You’ve been lying to me!” she hissed.

Her mind blank, Rhodonite said nothing. There was nothing she could say that would help the situation. She could only let herself sink further and further into shame.

“Who have you been hanging out with?!” asked Spinel, who seemed to have regained quite a bit of energy from the shock of the realization.

“I… don’t know.” The words seemed to drop right out of her mouth. She wished she could grab some duct tape and put it around her snout. She needed more time to think.

Time she didn’t have.

Her mother’s gaze darkened. “Oh…” she uttered with a bitterness in her tongue. “It’s that dragon you were fawning over when we went to the academy, isn’t it?”

When her daughter said nothing, she bared her teeth and shouted: “Is that right?!”

Putting her talons in the air in surrender, Rhodonite admitted: “Yes, it was him! I’m sorry but… don’t you know how it feels to have something you want so badly dangled right in front of your face before it gets pulled away from you?!”

Spinel’s expression softened a little; she looked almost…  _ sad. _ “Yes, I do,” she said, regret lacing her tone. “And if I had been stronger, you would have a father.”

Noticing her daughter’s confused face, Spinel clarified: “No, Rhodonite; he’s not dead.” She shook her head, muttering: “But he may as well be… to us.”

Silence filled the room for a long moment. Mother and daughter both looked downwards, the gravity of the conversation pressing down on their happiness.

Eventually, tearing up, Rhodonite said: “I’m sorry, mother!” and buried her face in her shoulder, hugging her. Spinel stroked her back.

Worry began clouding Rhodonite’s mind. What was she going to do now? If she went ahead and ended her relationship with Jasper, it would appease her mother (plus it would make her feel just a bit safer). However… she did really like Jasper. It was going to be tough to give him up.

But for now, she decided to let those complications fall away under the peacefulness of her mother’s comfort.

“I’m just… scared,” Spinel admitted softly. “I’m scared something’ll happen to you and I could’ve stopped it.”

“Okay,” was all Rhodonite could whisper.

Three long, desolate, depriving weeks had indeed passed. Okay, they were less  _ depriving  _ and more  _ boring.  _ Rhodonite just did the things she would do before she met Jasper, which wasn’t exactly  _ torture,  _ but it definitely wasn’t very enjoyable.

The memory of being held in her mother’s arms and comforted began to fade away over the weeks as she found herself feeling more and more empty, and perhaps even depressed to an extent. There were none of the splotches of sunlight she felt scattered across her soul every time she leaned against Jasper. There were no rushes like the ones she’d get while kissing him; her heart rate remained frustratingly stagnant, or at least that’s how it felt to her.

Honestly, Rhodonite didn’t enjoy being without Jasper. Yes, he could be a pill (sometimes, not always - hardly, in fact), but he was also her favorite dragon in the world.

_ Wait, is he?  _ one part of her mind once asked.

_ YES!  _ cried another.

Thus, Rhodonite eventually made the decision to see Jasper at their planned time despite her mother. The day she was due to see him again, she approached her front door, but froze as she remembered the night she spent at Jasper’s house.

_ I’m not sure if I want to do this… but if I do, I’ll have to lie to Mom. _

_ Again. _

It was rather saddening to accept that her relationship with Jasper was and may continue to be built off of lies, but she had already decided that drawback wasn’t enough to deter her from seeing her boyfriend again.

Shaking her head regretfully, Rhodonite wandered down a hall that led to her mother’s bedroom, who had been letting herself relax after a long day. The room was rather basic; paintings and jewels were present on the walls, complete with a maroon rug, but not much else existed in terms of decoration.

“Mom,” Rhodonite started, trying to wash all traces of guilt out of her voice as she spoke. “I think I’d like to go ask Quail if we can have a sleepover. For real this time.”

Spinel lifted her head from her bed and stared at her daughter. She seemed to be remembering the day her daughter’s secret had been revealed to her. However, after a few seconds, she conceded and replied softly: “I trust you, Rhodonite. Have fun.”

As Rhodonite turned to leave, she felt immensely grateful that had worked, but also a little nervous. Now that he had permission, what would happen if she broke her mother’s trust again?

But more importantly, once she reached Jasper’s house, would her beloved Favorite Dragon On Pyrrhia have changed? Three weeks had brought whipping cold into Rhodonite’s feelings. The weight of having Jasper taken away from her, even temporarily, was rather great, and only increased as she thought about it more. So if that had happened to her, what would have happened to Jasper?

This was what she thought about as she calmly opened her door and fluidly flapped through the sunset sky in the direction of Jasper’s house. She had a bit of a difficult time remembering exactly where his house was, since his home was quite a homogenous one, but eventually she saw a helpful orange dragon waving his talons to her with an unreadable expression.

_ Oh. That’s Jasper. _

Hovering down, Rhodonite immediately wrapped her wings around Jasper as she landed. However, Jasper’s greeting wasn’t quite as warm. His eyes narrowed slightly and he pulled her into his house, causing her to yelp in surprise.

He pulled the door shut and stormed to a chair, which he sat upon heavily.

“Jasper, I got here in the time we planned!” Rhodonite said with a bit of forced enthusiasm. She would be genuinely excited, except most of that was drowned out by this indescribable feeling of fear bubbling up inside.

Jasper’s eyes seemed to smolder. “Do you realize how difficult it’s been waiting for you?!” he growled.

“I- but-” Rhodonite sputtered, her heart entrenching itself in more anxiety.

“I wanted us to be together forever! But  _ you  _ think these breaks are fine?”

“Wait - wait - stop, Jasper,” Rhodonite said, managing to assert temporary control of the conversation. “We agreed upon this. You should’ve accepted that you wouldn’t see me for a while.”

A bit of…  _ shame  _ seemed to pass through Jasper’s vision.  _ Huh. I’ve never seen that expression on his face before,  _ thought Rhodonite.

“Look… it was… harder than I thought. But I suppose you’re right,” Jasper unexpectedly said. He looked confused. Rhodonite  _ was  _ confused.

“Jasper, has anything happened?” asked Rhodonite. “You’re acting very unusual.”

“Nothing’s different, I promise.” Jasper seemed absolutely sure of himself as he said that.

“My parents have been out running errands together for quite some time now,” Jasper told Rhodonite when they entered his paltry room. “Thankfully. They can be annoying sometimes.”

Rhodonite wrinkled her snout. “From what I remember, they were more than annoying.”

“True,” said Jasper, but neither of them laughed.

As it turned out, Jasper’s room didn’t actually have much to do inside. There was a dinky board game available tucked away in a dusty cabinet, but the instructions were missing and Rhodonite was sure that more than that wasn’t present. Without much else to do, they both resigned to flopping on Jasper’s bed and talking about stuff, though Jasper’s posture was tenser than usual.

“So… how has life treated you?” Rhodonite started.

Jasper’s expression got grumpier. “Fine-ish.”

With a concerned expression, Rhodonite put her head against Jasper’s neck. “Has it really been that bad?”

“It certainly has without you,” he replied, which made her heart grow just a little. Maybe things would turn out well.

However, for the rest of that night, they didn’t talk about much. Rhodonite felt bored. She suspected Jasper felt the same way.

After an eternity of silence, which in actuality was just a minute, Rhodonite cleared the thick fog of quiet by querying: “Are you sure you even want me here?”

When she looked back at Jasper, he’d seemed to have woken up a bit. He slid his talon on her shoulder - softly at first, but his grip tensed as it remained there for longer. “It’s been three weeks,” he hissed. “ _ Yes.” _

Rhodonite glanced nervously at him, before his talon squeezing her shoulder was beginning to hurt. “Let go of me!” she cried. However, he only removed it about five long, painful seconds after she’d pleaded to him. When he let her shoulder go, it was bleeding a little from holes he’d made with his talons. Rhodonite shivered and grimaced from the pain.

“Why’d you do that?!” she cried.

Jasper only grinned. He reached another lazy talon towards her and gripped a scale like a coin. Then, he tugged it. Hard.

Rhodonite was about to yelp when Jasper used his other talon to clench her snout and keep it shut. “You’re  _ mine,  _ Rhodonite. Make another sound and it’ll be more than your shoulder - and scale - that are bleeding.” He chuckled as her scale began to become loose, blood welling up around it and dripping like a light drizzle.

Rhodonite wanted to ask what had gotten into him, but in fear, she remained silent. Jasper pulled her into a tight hug, but didn’t restrain himself in squeezing her. He still pried at her scale, which was starting to seperate from her body.

Rhodonite felt like she was about to puke. The combination of pain, suffocation, and sadness pressed on her. Her head was hurting.  _ Why is this happening?! What happened?! _

Her eyes wide, she spoke: “Why are you doing this?”

Jasper sunk his claws into Rhodonite’s back. She let out a cry of pain. “Because, honey,” he said. “ _ You’re mine.” _ He continued sinking his talons in her, as if he was  _ enjoying  _ this.

Her mouth quivering, Rhodonite realized:  _ He probably is… _

“GET OFF OF ME!!” Rhodonite shouted, flinging his talons off of her back and attempting to jump away. However, the surface of the bed made it difficult to get away, and Jasper was able to catch her by a leg and drag her back.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.” Jasper spoke chillingly calmly at first. He was surely not okay. “You belong to me and only me!” He raked a talon across her belly.

Rhodonite screamed.

Scrabbling at the edge of Jasper’s bed, she managed to tumble off. She frantically looked for a window, before realizing there was none. Luckily, the door to his bedroom had been kept open. Blood pouring from her sides, she leapt to it and used the doorknob to help herself up. 

While Jasper furiously pushed himself off his bed, nearly reaching his girlfriend, Rhodonite dashed through his house at breakneck speed. Fear pulsed through her veins, empowering each step. However, nausea - both from her physical condition and emotions - held her back, giving Jasper enough time to tackle her and pin her down.

“I bet you  _ enjoyed  _ being without me!” Jasper howled, his voice full of spite. “You little bastard!”

“G-get away…” Rhodonite started, before trailing off. Her limbs were shaking in pure anxiety, but almost no feeling came to them. Blood rushed to her head; she could hear her pounding heart loud and clear.  _ What is he going to do to me..?! _

She breathed. Her breathing was shaky, rough like the floor she was against. Tears welled up in her eyes, but no sound came from her mouth. They silently slid down her face, cold.

And then feeling returned to her body.

Rhodonite convulsed violently, knocking Jasper off of her. She bounded through Jasper’s door, though barely, and let the screams come out. She didn’t care what sound she was making or who she was waking up in the middle of the night as long as she was far away from that… that  _ monster _ .

_ Moons - somebody - SAVE ME! _

Rhodonite pushed off into the air with as much force as her wings could muster. She could feel blood running down her sides as she pressed through, the wind dripping it down.  _ Nightmare,  _ was all she could think.  _ Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare. _

But it was no dream. Her boyfriend almost killed her. Or worse.

If Spinel found Rhodonite at her house in the middle of the night, covered in blood, she’d know something was up. Furthermore, Rhodonite didn’t want to risk waking up her mother.

So, in her panic, Rhodonite had flown out of the city and dove into some bushes located on the outskirts of it. The musty smell of a nearby lake indicated a place where she could quickly wash; she crawled in and let the cold water envelop her. However, she, remembering the dream she had, decided not to stay in for very long.

Once she emerged from the lake, dripping with water instead of blood, she shook herself dry and laid down between a few trees. While she did miss the warmth of Jasper’s place somewhat, at least here she didn’t feel suffocated, or in danger. Here she felt much more serene.

The world seemed so much different in the past month or so. Days felt like they took so much more time than weeks had in prior months. Every moment was so much more vivid and clear… for better or worse. It made Rhodonite feel excited to go to Jade City Academy, for perhaps this would spell a much more interesting life for her.

She thought about the academy a little more before falling asleep, peace glazed across her soft breathing.

Thankfully, when Rhodonite came to, she was not restrained in Jasper’s bedroom being tortured, or…  _ worse. _

The trees above still swayed, and the misty water still hung in the air. Birds chirped and the dirt against her body, while not necessarily sanitary, wasn’t suffocating either. It was freeing to be away from Jasper, not wearing.

Of course, that was probably thanks to Jasper being an awful dragon in actuality that was obsessed with her in the worst way possible.  _ I can’t believe Mom was actually right,  _ thought Rhodonite.

The sun had already risen over the horizon.  _ Mom should be waking up soon,  _ Rhodonite noticed.  _ I should probably make my way back home. _

After stretching for a few minutes, she bounded into the air and soared above Jade City. When she found her home, she swooped down and skidded to a halt just before ramming straight into the door. She was about to open the door when she found a note sitting on her doormat.

Squinting, Rhodonite gently picked up the paper and looked at it. It was from…  _ Jasper. _

_ Rhodonite… I’m sorry. I’m an awful dragon and can’t control myself. I feel bad for everything that transpired last night and wish to make amends. _

_ I should’ve told you earlier how erratic I am. No wonder my family is such a mess… I ruined them and now I’m ruining you. I’m a disease and I don’t deserve you. _

_ I don’t deserve anything. _

_ I’ve been planning something for a few weeks now. I knew my condition was too awful to live with. _

_ I’ll be lying in my backyard if you’d like to talk to me. I’m staying there forever. _

_ Jasper _

_ No… this can’t be,  _ thought Rhodonite. What was Jasper implying when he said he was going to stay in his backyard forever? Lying in his backyard… wait…!

_ Is… is he going to  _ kill  _ himself?!  _ Rhodonite’s face fell, guilt swarming over her insides, disintegrating them with each bite of shame. She began twitching in panic. She spent hours dozing… and that may have cost her the life of her boyfriend.

The next thing she knew, she was barreling through the air at top speed to save Jasper. The cold wind pressing into her face made it difficult to see, but she didn’t care.  _ I regret running. I should’ve talked things out with him. I was wrong! Why?! Why didn’t I just… -  _ Rhodonite felt tears running down her face as she flew. She sobbed.  _ WHY?! _

Her wingbeats grew vast and strong. The city was moving below her at a speed so fast she worried she had already passed Jasper’s house. Eventually, though, she did pinpoint his rather sloppy home and slammed onto the ground in his backyard. 

A hole was dug in the middle, and inside was an ordinary rectangular wooden box quite large enough for a dragon. There was a closed lid with a lock on it. A key lay beside the lock.

_ No… no, no, no… _

Frantically jamming the key into the lock, Rhodonite tried to unlock the box with so much vigor that she was worried something may break. She managed to do the deed after about ten seconds of pure panic, though.

Inside was an unmoving Jasper, arms folded over his chest, next to some substance in a glass.

Rhodonite couldn’t move. She couldn’t feel anything except the shattering of her heart. Nothing else, just… pain.

“I…” she started aloud. Then her sobs contorted her voice. “I’m so sorry! Wh… WHY DIDN’T I HANDLE THIS BETTER?!”

Jasper’s face almost looked like it was faintly smiling. It made Rhodonite wonder what Jasper really had been going through.  _ Perhaps there are two different versions of himself… or something. I don’t know. Moons, I’m such an IDIOT!! _

Rhodonite sat in silence beside Jasper’s body for a few more minutes. Jasper didn’t even look disappointed at himself nor Rhodonite, just… oddly satisfied and peaceful.

All Rhodonite could do was sigh. Then weep.

Then Jasper’s eyes shot open and he grabbed Rhodonite by the neck, pulling her into the box. She screamed, but her snout was quickly covered by his talons. The chuckles of her boyfriend echoed across her mind as he spoke into her ear: “Hello, love…”

Rhodonite tried her best to struggle, but to no avail. This time, she knew there was no escape.

“I’ve missed you so much… and I bet you have too.”

Rhodonite couldn’t think of a coherent answer to that. Her mind was in pure shock and she couldn’t…

_ I can’t. _

_ I can’t love him. I can’t live with him. _

“In honor of our magnificent romance, I’ve decided to elect ourselves as rulers of the world!”

_ What is he talking about?! _

“We will live forever!”

_ … _

_ I  _ am  _ an idiot. He really is going to kill me. _

“I love you so much, Rhodonite. This world doesn’t deserve your grace, nor does it deserve mine! I’m so happy to finally be able to leave this horrid place and be somewhere amazing! Somewhere as amazing as you! Wouldn’t you love that?!”

“ _ MOM!!!”  _ Rhodonite’s cry was muffled behind Jasper’s talons. She felt so petrified, and yet… so full of energy at the same time. Energy she would never have the chance to use when she was dead.

Jasper turned his head from behind Rhodonite to face her. Smirking, he said: “I can’t wait to be with you for eternity,  _ love. _ ” He chuckled in a way that made Rhodonite want to tear off her face because  _ anything would feel better than this _ .

As Jasper grabbed the clear substance that had laid beside him, he clamped Rhodonite’s snout tighter before taking a gulp of the substance.

Then Jasper planted his lips right on Rhodonite’s snout and spat it out, before using his talons to make her swallow like she was a dragonet. “There you go!” he said in an awful high-pitched tone. “I love you!!”

He let go of Rhodonite’s snout, and she screamed.

No sound came out.

Nothing moved.

Nothing existed except for black.

Rhodonite couldn’t see. But she could feel. She could feel her lungs giving out as the air around her degraded more and more.

The scent of Jasper mixed with wood filled her nostrils. It was somehow more suffocating than how she’d felt when she had a nightmare.

Rhodonite was sure she’d been killed in Jasper’s psychopathic daze, yet she was alive and well. Well, more so, just alive.

_ Choke _

_ I can’t stay here,  _ thought Rhodonite.  _ Obviously. But… why am I here? _

As she put the pieces of the puzzle back together, she remembered what Jasper had told her.  _ “We will live forever!”  _ Jasper had definitely tried to kill her, but then put her in this box…?

_ Living forever probably meant preserving my body.  _ Interestingly, he didn’t give himself the same luxury. He probably didn’t kill himself after all. Truly psychopathic.

_ Ow. _

_ Oh Moons, I think I am dying! _

She pressed against the top of the box, but as she suspected, it wouldn’t budge. What’s more, it didn’t make much of a hollow sound.  _ He buried me! _

“MOM!!!” Rhodonite cried. “SOMEONE! ANYONE!! PLEASE!!”

Yet it seemed no one would save her. No one would hear her. 

Rhodonite, eyes wide, let her body relax a little, though her heart still pounded. This…  _ grave _ , it felt so draining and breaking and  _ killing.  _ Fear was all Rhodonite felt. Petrification was the name of her grave, for she was due to be still for the rest of eternity.

No life.

Rhodonite howled her anguish again, hoping. Hope only got her so far, though.

The cold of her grave rose around her, making her scales prickle and her body shiver. Her tears chilled her face when they dripped, encasing her heart in ice.  _ This is it, then… _

_ I’m so sorry, Mom. I was so wrong. _

Her talons began twitching less… and less... and-

What was that noise? It sounded like… talons scraping against dirt? Was it true that someone was rescuing her?

With a stab of fear, Rhodonite’s eyes shot open as she feared:  _ What… what if it’s Jasper again?! Is my torture only starting? _

However, as the lid of her box opened, she didn’t see the disturbingly perfect face of Jasper, but the heartbroken, terrified face of her mother, Spinel.

“Mom…” Rhodonite’s face fell.

“Shhh,” Spinel shushed her. “I’m here now.” She helped her out of the box and embraced her gently. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Rhodonite and Spinel were back home. Lights yellowed the interior of their house. The evening air was more still than it had ever been. But rather than anger, Spinel’s gaze was full of pure terror and sadness.

“Rhodonite… please tell me what happened.”

Her daughter only shuddered in response.

Spinel shook her head. “I know this has been awful, but… I need to know.” She took one of Rhodonite’s talons in her own. “Please.”

Rhodonite mustered the courage to speak. “J-... Jasper… he tried to  _ kill me.” _

“Why?” asked Spinel.

Gulping, her daughter replied: “He said… he wanted us to live forever.”

Spinel gave her a knowing look of concern. “You know that Jasper is dead now, right?”

Rhodonite gasped and said in horror: “Did you  _ kill  _ him?!”

“N-no… look… he must have killed himself with some sort of odd liquid. I think he killed his parents with it too… when I was searching his house for them, I found their bodies piled on each other in a closet.”

Rhodonite felt it was her turn to ask a question. “How did you find me, Mother?”

Spinel stroked the scales on Rhodonite’s back. “I saw you leaving the house this morning in a panic. Unfortunately, you were too fast for me to reasonably keep up. I wasn’t sure where Jasper’s house was, and when I finally found you, you had already been stuck in that box for a while.” Spinel shivered. “It’s a miracle I did find you. I didn’t think Jasper would’ve set something so elaborate up… he was a psychopath.”

Spinel put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. Rhodonite managed to look at her mother despite the internal gravity she was feeling. “Look. It’s not your fault this happened. Well, not completely your fault…” she amended. “But there was no way you could’ve known how messed up Jasper was until he… tried to do what he did to you.”

“I know,” Rhodonite whispered. Part of her wanted to say more, but it was difficult. It was difficult doing anything, really.

They both looked at each other in awkward silence, before Spinel muttered: “You should probably get some sleep…”

“Mhm,” Rhodonite said softly.

Before letting her go, Rhodonite’s mother gave her one final hug. “I love you, and am so,  _ so  _ sorry all of this happened to you,” she whispered.

“I know.”

It was difficult to firmly get a grip on everything now. Rhodonite had felt something similar when she was sleeping in the woods, but now… the world felt so… unbelievable. Besides the usual existential questions, she also had to wonder what her future was. After going to the academy, what would she do? Would she ever find a true love that she could put her trust into safely?

She honestly didn’t know. She didn’t know if she ever would. She felt envious of Quail, but now for a different reason.

_ I don’t want to think about Quail… or anyone, really. _

_ I just want to be alone. _

_ Alone. _


End file.
